7/25/2024 basketball Edit

Veteran guard Jeremiah Williams talks leadership, upcoming season

Craig Epstein • TheKnightReport

Staff Writer

Jeremiah Williams is set to enter his second season with Rutgers as one of its veteran leaders and a player looking to steer the ship on a highly-anticipated season.

“This is probably one of the most talented teams I’ve been on,” Williams said. “Everyone’s had a working mindset, it’s very similar to the Iowa State team I was on. Everyone has a common goal and in the gym working out.”

With the duo of Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper set to make their Scarlet Knights debuts, Williams understands the attention will only continue to grow. The thing he feels will separate Rutgers from the pack though is the mindset he and his teammates come in with.

“We kind of just accept it, I wouldn’t say we block it out,” he said. “It’s national media so you’re going to see it, I think it’s just about not feeding into it. What we do to block it out is come into work every day, that’s probably the only thing we can do."

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Williams was limited to 12 games last season due to his NCAA suspension for violating its gambling policy. He showed the type of impact he can make though after leading the team with 12.2 points per game and becoming the third Rutgers player to earn a Big Ten Player of the Week honor, joining Cam Spencer and Geo Baker.

“It was pretty seamless with me being a leader, everyone listens and wants to be a leader,” he said regarding year two. “As far as workouts go, keeping everyone straight and all the little things that don’t show up on the court, everyone kind of does that and pulls their weight. I think Coach Pikiell did a great job bringing in the right players and it’s going to show when the season starts.”

Williams also gave the Scarlet Knights a shot of adrenaline last season when it won its first four games with him in the lineup.

The redshirt senior discussed how summer practices have gone for him so far.

“It’s been fun, the summer usually has pretty positive energy and I think everyone has come in with a pretty solid mindset,” Williams said. “I think we’ve just been having fun competing daily in practice.”

He also credited sophomore Jamichael Davis for his continued maturity and pushing him every day in practice.

“J-Mike has been one of the most improved players,” Williams said. “He’s made tremendous strides as a leader and basketball player so it’s been great competing with him and playing the backcourt with him. Anytime you get more reps it’s amazing. He loves to play basketball and I love to compete so it’s a great time and helps us a lot.”

Williams spent his first two seasons at Temple before transferring to Iowa State ahead of the 2022-23 season. He did not appear in any games for the Cyclones though due to an ACL injury.

Williams discussed how Rutgers alums Geo Baker and Ron Harper Jr. helped make his transition to the banks even smoother and the relationship they continue to share.

“From day one since I met them, even when I wasn’t playing, they’ve always been good guys,” the Chicago native said. “I usually go around to different gyms and Geo might be in there running his training camp so he’ll let me jump in with the guys if needed and Ron may give some pointers while he’s at the game. He provides a great friendship off the court and when you can do that off the court with a Rutgers legend it makes you more comfortable in a place like this.”

While Williams hopes his playing days are far from over, he has shown his ability behind a microphone with his podcast, A Knighthood Podcast, where he has interviewed past and present Rutgers players.

“The podcast is great, just having different guys from the team come on and talk about different things and learning things you wouldn’t know unless you were in the locker room,” he said. “And then having guys like Ron, Caleb, and Geo get the chance to speak and discuss certain things you wouldn’t know about Rutgers basketball. I feel like a lot of people don’t know much about Rutgers basketball or its history and those guys laid the groundwork for stuff like that and provided some impactful stories of Coach Pikiell and things that went around.”

Whether or not he continues his media journey when his basketball career is over remains to be seen.

“Even if basketball works out, I always kind of like to be on platforms and use my voice even though I don’t do it on my social media,” he said. “Whether I play basketball or not, I like the media aspect of things.”